Test run one went off without any major hiccups. We started out meeting at Kobe Steakhouse for an awesome dinner which featured a live knife and dinner show. After we stuffed our bellies it was time to go see Rush!

From there it was off to the show but first we had to pay for overpriced parking ($23) at Roger's Arena. One weird thing happened as we were parking I ran into a friend from Vernon in the parking lot who was also going to Rush. He said to me are you going to Rush and I replied with the tongue and cheek remark "Actually I am here for the Britney Spears concert". Once a smart ass - always a smart ass (me that is!).

This Rush tour was a "history" and "current album" tour meaning they were playing songs from their new album and also many of their songs from their past - many of them the most well known ones.

Rush started about 15 minutes late but they came out to quite a rousing cheer and basically ripped into "Subdivisions". It took about three songs before Geddy Lee said anything to the crowd. He probably said no more than two sentences before they started playing music again.

Roger's Arena really is a great place to see any show. The acoustics are good and the sight lines are good as well.

Now to the individual performances:

Geddy Lee - pretty good performance but he definitely lost his voice on a couple of high notes but that is too be expected when your over sixty.

Neil Peart - as always his drumming was stellar. Interestingly enough he dropped a drum stick during one of his THREE drum solos. Was pretty well silent (speaking wise) for the whole show.

Alex Lifeson - unbelievable guitar playing and I would definitely say he was the best of the three only because he made no mistakes.

Stage Show:

The stage consists of a "steam punk" style which is basically reminiscent of Gastown crossed with a little bit of a circus style. They had some really cool animations playing on a huge screen behind them. The animations definitely made me wonder what they were on when they were played. Some were straight forward, some were just out there.

The show was over 2.5 hours long and there was no opening band only an intermission at the half way point. One other interesting thing about the show is the inclusion of violinists and one bass player (floor bass) during the Clockwork Angels portion of the show. They were very entertaining and were right into it! A nice break for some young players!

Audience Interaction & Engagement "D"Quality, Diversity, and Accuracy of Music "A"Stage Presence of Band "C"Misc Notes: The songs were all played impeccably and there were no serious errors however I would have liked to see the band interact with their audience more. I also found that "stacking" all the songs from Clockwork Angels back to back took the steam out of the audience's enthusiasm. Although I knew the songs (I have the new album) most people didn't and seemed a bit confused. Let's face it Rush's foundation is the songs from the 70's and 80's.

That said and done I found it surprising that Limelight, Working Man, Roll The Bones, and Red Barchetta were not played as these were some of their greatest hits!

My overall rating for the show is a "B". Good show but play all the hits and get your audience more involved! That's my opinion and I am sticking with it!